MONTREAL - François Payard makes 12,000 macarons a day for his New York City patisseries. The pastry chef has five shops in Manhattan, three in Japan, and another five in South Korea. But it was inside his lavish pastry shop/bistro in Las Vegas during Bon Appétit’s Vegas Uncork’d event last month that I had the opportunity to watch this famous “Payard” make several desserts, including lemon tarts, gluten-free chocolate cookies and luscious macarons.

When I was first introduced to the especially sweet and garishly coloured macarons in 1991, I never thought they would last. Yet their Marie-Antoinette prettiness and melting/fragile nature have held gourmets’ attention since the elegant Paris patisserie Ladurée popularized them two decades ago.

Produced in a wide range of day-glow colours, macarons are most commonly sold in predictable flavours, such as chocolate, vanilla, pistachio, praline and raspberry. In the hands of Parisian pâtissiers like Pierre Hermé, the man who is responsible for breathing new life into this old “petit four” when he took over as chef at Ladurée’s shop back in the 1990s, macarons can get a little out there.

In his eponymous shop today, Hermé continues to exploit the seemingly endless possibilities of this hard-on-the-outside/melting-on-the-inside hamburger-shaped biscuit. He makes them with wild and wonderful flavours like rose and lychee, olive oil and vanilla, licorice and violets, even black truffle. His latest flavour is perhaps his craziest: apple, mint, cucumber and arugula. Wow!

But back to chef Payard, who chose chocolate as his macaron of teaching choice, a flavour that seems to seduce even those of us who are as tired of the macaron as we are of the cupcake. Nowadays, the big challenge for home bakers is to give the fiendishly difficult macaron recipe a try, and Payard answered many questions posed by the enthusiastic bakers, who each paid $125 to partake in his class.

The fabrication of macarons begins by making the cookie shells that are based on a meringue. To begin, the egg whites must be clean, as in yolk-free, and beaten in a grease-free glass or stainless steel bowl. It’s also essential that the egg whites not be fresh. Ideally, use whites that have been lying around in the fridge for a few weeks or even months. And be sure they are room temperature — Payard insists they are kept at room temperature (covered) 24 hours before proceeding with the recipe.

The almond powder is also key — the finer the better — so be sure to sift it several times, reserving only the finest powder. If ever your powder seems excessively oily, spread it out on a baking tray and place it in a 350 F oven for 10 minutes to dry it out a bit.

The macaron batter should not be fluffy or foamy like a meringue, but instead similar to that of a cake batter. Therefore do not overbeat the egg whites, and be sure to make the batter “fall” when you mix in the dry ingredients — that is, be a little rough with the spatula to knock out any excess air in the mix.

Once the batter is piped out, the little rounds must crust over properly or the cookie will not form the signature foot (the technical term for the ruffle on the edge) beneath its smooth and shiny cap. Let the cookies sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes until they form a crust on top.

But if it is humid outside, that crust can take up to 45 minutes to form, so be patient. You should be able to run your finger over the cookie without the batter sticking to it before baking. As for the baking, it is preferable to bake them on a silicone baking sheet (silpat) than parchment paper. Yet fear not: parchment works as well.

Payard spent a lot of time talking about how to make a great ganache, saying, “What makes a good macaron, to me, is a good filling.”

The classic hot cream and chopped chocolate ganache is ideally made of both bitter and sweet dark chocolate, and Payard mixes it with an immersion blender rather than a whisk to blend thoroughly while incorporating the least amount of air. Be sure to keep the blades under the cream when you blend it and, he says, look for the shine on the ganache as a sign it is perfectly emulsified. He then pours it into a tray lined with plastic wrap, folds over the plastic wrap to cover and lets it sit on the counter overnight to firm up — never in the refrigerator.

When the macarons are filled with the ganache, Payard insists you be “generous with the filling.” Any leftover ganache can be kept refrigerated for up to a month (diluted with a bit of water, ganache makes a swell chocolate sauce).

Of course, you can gobble up the macarons once they are cooked and filled, but not so fast, says the pastry chef. If you can bear to wait, refrigerate the finished macarons for 24 to 36 hours, well wrapped, before eating. And if you don’t eat them all, they freeze beautifully (again, covered) for up to two months.

Macarons are a bit tough to make because there are many steps, and the cookies are piped out using a pastry bag (never easy). But with a little practice — and a lot of patience — you can have Payard-style macarons on your table too. Not only a posh snack or fab dessert (perhaps served simply with a little bowl of passion fruit sorbet?), they would make a generous hostess gift as well.

Here is Payard’s recipe:

François Payard’s Chocolate Macarons

Makes 50 macarons

Macarons:

3½ cups confectioners’ sugar

4 cups almond flour or finely ground blanched almonds

7 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder

9 large egg whites, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

Ganache:

4 ounces 50 per cent chocolate, chopped

2 ounces 100 per cent chocolate, chopped

4½ teaspoons light corn syrup

1 cup heavy cream

Make the macarons: Place a rack each in the upper and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 F. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats. If you have enough baking sheets, double them up (this will prevent the macarons from baking too fast).

Sift together the confectioners’ sugar, almond flour, and cocoa powder over a large bowl. Stir in four egg whites, until the mixture is smooth and lump-free.

With a candy thermometer handy, combine the sugar and ½ cup water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. If sugar sticks to the sides of the pot, dip a pastry brush in water and brush the sides.

While the sugar is cooking, put the remaining five egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Once the sugar reaches 221 F on the candy thermometer, start beating the eggs on high speed. When the sugar reaches 250 F, pour it into the eggs in a slow stream, with the mixer running, down the inside of the bowl. Continue beating until the meringue is thick and the bottom of the bowl is cool to the touch.

With a silicone spatula, gently fold the meringue into the dry ingredients, in four increments. Fold until everything is well combined.

Spoon the batter in a pastry bag or resealable plastic bag, and cut a ½-inch opening in the tip or corner of the bag. Pipe the batter into quarter-size circles onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving about one inch in between each macaron. The macarons should have a uniform size. Let them sit out at room temperature for 15 minutes, until a skin forms. This will transform into a beautiful crust on the finished macarons.

Put the macarons in the oven, and turn the oven off for five minutes. After that, turn it back on to 400 F, and continue baking for eight minutes, until a crust forms and they are soft inside. Remove from the oven, and let the macarons cool on the pans.

Make the ganache: Combine both chocolates and the corn syrup in a medium bowl.

Pour the cream in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Pour over the chocolate, and whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Let the ganache cool, stirring periodically with a silicone spatula, until it reaches pipeable consistency, about 60 minutes. It should feel like a thick icing.

Assemble the macarons: Turn the silicone baking mat over, and carefully pull it away from the macarons, to free them up. Turn half of the macarons over, so that their flat side is facing up.

Spoon the ganache into a pastry bag or resealable plastic bag, and cut a ½-inch opening in the tip or corner of the bag. Pipe a nickel-size amount of ganache in the centre of the macarons that are facing up. Gently press the remaining macarons over the ganache, to make small sandwiches. Try to match the size of the two halves as much as possible.

Store the macarons in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week, or in the freezer for up to two months.

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